Bosnia

From 1992 through 1995, Serbian nationalist troops led ethnic cleansing operations in many parts of Bosnia (now, Bosnia-Herzegovina). The result was the killing of an estimated 200,000 Muslim civilians with more than 2 million people displaced.

The organized killing of Bosnian Muslim men left tens of thousands of families without husbands and fathers and has also contributed to the poverty that still lingers for over a decade after the war. In essence, the war transformed Bosnia-Herzegovina from a medium-income country into a poverty-stricken country.

Vast portions of basic infrastructure that were destroyed or severely damaged during the war have yet to be fixed, leading to poor quality of life by compromising basic necessities such as clean drinking water and proper sanitation systems.

Today, 20 percent of the population in Bosnia is living in poverty. Although poverty is widespread throughout the country, it is more severe in rural areas where many people support themselves through subsistence farming.